Device for cleaning tobacco-pipes



I. B. STURGES. DEVICE FOR CLEANING ToB-Acco PIPES.

(No Model.)

Patented Feb. 18, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IRA B. STURGES, OF PORTLAND, OREGON.

DEVICE FOR CLEANING TOBACCO-PIPES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 554,744, dated February18, 1896.

Application filed December 22, 1894. Serial No. 532,735. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, IRA B. STURGES, a citizen of the United States,residing at Portland, in the county of Multnomah and State of Oregon,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices forCleaning Tobacco- Pipes; and I do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of tobacco-pipecleaners which are formed from resilient metal and comprise cutting orscraping portions; and its no'velty will be fully understood from thefollowing description and claims, when taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectionalview of a tobacco-pipe with my improved cleaner in position therein.Fig. 2 is an elevation of the cleaner removed from the pipe. Fig. 3 isan enlarged transverse section taken in the plane indicated by the linea: m of Fig. 1.

Referring by letter to the said drawings, A indicates an ordinarytobacco-pipe having a straight stem B, and 0 indicates my improvedcleaner, which is designed and adapted to remove nicotine and othersediment from the bore or passage of the stem B. This cleaner 0 ispreferably made from a piece of resilient wire, and it is provided atone end with an eye a, designed to be threaded with raw cotton or othercleaning material, and is bent at its opposite end to form afinger-grasp b, and is slitted longitudinally for an intermediateportion of its length, as indicated by 0, so as to form the cutting orscraping portions d. (Better illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of thedrawings.) The said cutting or scraping portions d spread or move apartin the manner illustrated in Fig. 3 when the cleaner is turned in thebore or passage of the pipe-stem, and it will therefore be seen that theedges formed by their fiat and curved sides will out or scrape all thenicotine and other sediment from the wall of said bore or passage.

quantity of raw cotton or other cleaning material it is again introducedinto the stem and worked to and fro, so as to thoroughly clear thepassage or bore. This operation is repeated until the stem is not onlyclear, but dry, the eye a being threaded with clean cotton before eachintroduction if necessary.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. As an improvedarticle of manufacture, the pipe cleaner herein described, formed from apiece of resilient wire and having the longitudinal slot 0, with closedends at an intermediate point in its length and the cutting or scrapingportions cl, formed by the slot 0, substantially as and for the purposeset forth.

2. As an improved article of manufacture, the herein-describedpipe-cleaner, formed from a piece of resilient wire of circular form incross-section, so as to facilitate its introduction into the stem, andhaving the longitudinal slot 0, at an intermediate point in its length,and also having the longitudinal cutting or scraping portions cl, formedby the slot 0, and having the contiguous flat sides the said cutting orscraping portions d, being adapted to spread or move apart when thecleaner is turned in the bore or passage of a pipe-stem, so as to enablethe edges to scrape the sediment off the wall of the bore of thepipe-stem, all substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

IRA B. STURGES. Witnesses:

E. G. MASTEN, GEO. I. SARGENT.

